The Army and IAF will test new battle fighting concepts and doctrines during the fortnight long exercise ‘Sudarshan Shakti’ in Rajasthan in the November end and it will continue till the first week of December. The new concepts include real time pictures of the battle zone provided to a centralised command control from fighter jets, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and attack helicopters, waging war in network centric environment and massed tank drills backed by artillery guns.

More than 300 tanks including main battle tank T-90 and T-72s, long range 150 artillery guns and about 15,000 troops will take part in the exercise in the deserts of Jaisalmer and Barmer. The total area covered during the exercise is approximately 175/150 km, sources said adding that the battleground is about 150 km away from the India-Pakistan international border.

Sources said the nature of warfare had changed rapidly in the last one decade and the Indian formations, which conduct such drills once in three or four years, would get the chance to upgrade their skills and test the efficacy of the systems.

The exercise will be carried out by 21 Corp which is one of the three strike corps India has. Its main responsibility is to attack the enemy in a surprise move. The three strike corps are located in Central India and can be mobilised and ready for operations with in seven days when hostilities break out.

They said the entire array of new weapons, communication systems and electronic warfare equipment will be tested in battlefield scenario. The new systems include radars and sensors and the objective of the exercise is to review their amalgamation into overall war fighting capabilities of the army and IAF.

The command and control centre will get real time pictures in an integrated manner from the fighter aircraft like Jaguars and SU-30s, UAVs and attack helicopters thereby helping the commander to take on the spot decisions in quick time, officials said.

The recent Pentagon report on US-India Security Cooperation which indicates the possible sale of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to India has created a hubbub in the media. Some have even gone to the extent of suggesting that New Delhi should scrap its ongoing, half-a-decade, effort to procure 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft from European countries and instead buy the F-35, the only fifth generation fighter that is available for international customers. However, a careful analysis would show that the F-35 is not an ideal choice for India for a variety of reasons ranging from the delay in its developmental schedule, a tight production line, prohibitive cost, India’s own efforts to jointly develop and produce a fifth generation fighter with its traditional supplier, Russia, and little technological or industrial benefits that would accrue to India from the F-35 purchase.

The first and foremost reason why F-35 is not the ideal choice for India is that the fighter is yet to come out from its developmental phase to the production floor and for exports. The radar evading plane, the biggest ever collaborative project involving the US and eight international partners (UK, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Italy Turkey and Australia), is still facing many design and technological complexities, which have pushed back the original induction schedule by three years from 2013 to 2016. Even if New Delhi believes in the revised induction schedule and places orders now, deliveries to India are unlikely to commence immediately thereafter. With over 3,000 assured orders for the F-35, including 2,443 units from the US alone, Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor for the plane, would be constrained in meeting its export obligations before executing the existing orders.

The second reason why F-35 is of little relevance to India is because New Delhi’s own efforts to jointly build and develop the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) with Russia. Consequent to the government-to-government agreement in 2007, India’s state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) and Rosoboronexport of Russia signed an agreement in 2010 for the preliminary design (PD) of the FGFA at a cost of $295 million. As per the agreement, HAL and Sukhoi Design Bureau (Russia) will undertake the PD for 18 months, followed by Full Scale Design and Development to be undertaken in a separate contract. India has already made it clear that it wishes to procure around 250 FGFAs, with the likely induction starting from 2018 onwards. Given this, it will be quite difficult, if not impossible, for India to go with the US which would be the only county in the world to operate two classes of 5th generation fighters (F-22 and F-35) in the coming years.

The third reason why F-35 is not an ideal choice for India is because of the fighter’s prohibitive cost. As reported by the Pentagon’s Select Acquisition Report, issued in December 2010, the unit procurement cost of F-35 (at 2010 prices) stands at $132.8 million. For the non cost-sharing international customers, the unit cost would be much higher because they are expected to pay a part of the F-35’s developmental cost, which has ballooned to total nearly $55 billion at the end of 2010. The higher price for non-partnering nations is evident from the unit cost of $144.7 million that Israel has agreed to pay for 19 of these fighter aircraft. At this price tag, affordability becomes the key issue for India, whose whole annual defence capital acquisition budget barely matches with the US’s one year F-35 acquisition cost. Although it can be argued that a few F-35s can perform the role of many existing or planned planes in the IAF’s inventory, this argument does not hold ground as the ongoing debate in India between numbers and capability still favours the former.

Last, but not the least, from the defence industrial and technological point of view, there is little that India can benefit from the procurement of F-35, which, if at all happens, will most likely be an off-the-shelf purchase, rather than involve technology transfer to India for license production. Technological secrecy has been a major cornerstone of the US defence programme in general and F-35 in particular. It is noteworthy that despite the F-35 being a multi-country developmental project, core technologies have been denied by the US to its partnering nations. This has often been a stumbling block between the US and its cost-sharing partners, forcing some to threaten to quit the project or reduce their procurement numbers of F-35s from what was originally intended. Even the UK, the closest ally of the US and the only level-1 partner for the F-35 programme, has been denied some core technologies to independently maintain and upgrade the fighter. Compared to this likely technology denial, India’s initial contribution to the FGFA is believed to be around 25 per cent, which can progressively increase if HAL shows maturity in its indigenisation process. Given the technological and industrial benefits of the FGFA and the absence thereof with respect to the F-35, it makes little sense for India to choose the F-35.

New Delhi: Army has successfully used its satellites and UAVs in the ongoing exercise 'Sudharshan Shakti' to provide a real-time picture and information of the war zone to battlefield commanders.

The new concepts of real time linking of the command centres with the battle zone has been successfully tested during the wargame in the deserts of Rajasthan, an army spokesperson said today.

"The endeavour has been to validate and integrate the use of all available assets, including satellites and UAVs to assist commanders in taking dynamic and proactive operational action in a fluid battlefield situation," he said.

An important facet being validated is the real-time links between sensor and shooter which enables commanders to take instant decisions even as information is being shared among platforms and personnel to order the weapons to be deployed, he said.

Aerial assets provided by Indian Air Force (IAF) like Sukhoi-30 fighter aircraft and AWACS have also been used to provide a real-time data of the war zones.

A total of 60,000 troops and 300 tanks are participating in the exercise which has brought together all elements, including air power on one single platform.

Apart from 120 artillery guns and an array of missiles and rockets, the exercise involves operation by aircraft such as Su-30 MKI, Jaguars, MiG-27 and MiG-21, AWACS and helicopters.

The exercise will help the Southern Command to validate its war-fighting concepts while working towards 'capability- based approach' relying on a series of transformational initiatives, concepts, organisational structures and absorption of new age technologies.

India's ambitious plan to build an aircraft carrier, an important component of the navy's blue water aspirations, at home has missed its first launch deadline.

The ship, known as Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) before it is christened, was scheduled for a 'float-out' this December.

In the long process to build a ship, float-out is the second stage after the laying of keel.

The IAC's keel was laid in February 2009 after work started in November 2006. It was estimated then that it would be ready to float in two years.

The launch now is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2012, if the progress is swift. The aircraft carrier is being built at the Cochin Shipyard, where a lot is at stake for the success of the project, the first of its kind undertaken in the country.

It might still take at least four years between the first and the final launch and officials are guardedly optimistic about its planned entry into the naval fleet by 2015.

As the impact of the delay in the first launch on the delivery of the warship is still being assessed, there is a realisation of the fact that building an aircraft carrier from scratch at home is a complex project attempted by few in the world.

The immediate comparison is drawn with China, which is building Varyag, a retired Soviet-era carrier. India has a definite edge over China in the field of carrier operations.

The government had committed Rs.3,261 crore for the first phase of the IAC. The officials attribute the delay to the technical complexities as the first phase was the most crucial in terms of keeping the noise signatures under check.

The IAC is being powered by four GE LM 2500 gas turbine engines that would propel the 37,000 tonne warship at 28 knots. There was a problem in the gear box and the long shaft that also contributed to the delay. The floating airfield has been designed to handle operations of at least 30 Mig-29 K and maritime version of the under-development light combat aircraft, apart from Seaking and Kamov 31 helicopters.

India had initially planned to design a Sea Control Ship, a 25,000tonne catapult-and-ski jump version. But designs were altered often because of the high costs involved.

In yet another incident of Indian fighter jets' crash, an Indian Air Force MiG-21 crashed in Sirsa district, Haryana, this afternoon. The crash took place around 1.40 pm. According to the Haryana police, nobody got injured in the mishap.

The fighter jet took off from Sirsa Airbase for an afternoon sortie, and within minutes crashed in the same district. The jet crashed in the fields of Mangali village between Ellanabad and Sultanpur area. Official sources say the pilot, details of whom is not yet known, ejected safely and landed in Sultanpur village. About two months ago, another MiG-21 had crashed near Uttarlai airport in Rajasthan's Barmer district but the pilot ejected safely.

New Delhi: The Indian Navy is all set to induct a nuclear powered submarine, acquired from Russia, by the end of this financial year. The submarine will come on a ten year lease, with the navy retaining the option to either return it on expiry of lease or induct it permanently into its fleet.

The 8,100-tonne INS Chakra, a second-generation Russian Akula II class nuclear submarine, is currently in the final user acceptance trial stage in the northern seas of Russia. According to naval sources, a three-phase technical user acceptance trial for the Akula II submarine has already begun.

The indigenously designed and built nuclear submarine, INS Arihant, is due for extended sea trials over the next six months and will be commissioned sometime next year.

With the induction of these two submarines the Indian Navy is likely to become a formidable force in the Indian Ocean and beyond.

The first set of two Mirage 2000 combat jets of the Indian Air Force (IAF) have flown out for upgrade at the facilities of Thales, the French defence and aerospace giant, as part of a $1.35 billion deal for the 51-aircraft fleet.

"Two aircraft - a single seater and a double-seater - have flown out to the French Air Base near Istres. The aircraft will reach Monday-Tuesday after halts in two countries in the Gulf and two in Europe," Thales country director Eric Lenseigne said.

"The upgrade will begin immediately after a 22-member project team from the Indian Air Force and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) will be associated with the project. This is what we call a middle-life upgrade. It will take a few years," Lenseigne said.

According to sources, the pilots and some team members could not have asked for a better flight path, and destination. Their landings were slotted for Qatar, Egypt, Turkey and Greece, before arriving at Istres in French Riviera, northwest of Marseille.

Lenseigne explained that during the upgrade of the two aircraft in Istres, a small team of Thales experts would also visit Bangalore for the upgrade of another two Mirage 2000 jets at the facility of Hindustan Aeronautics.

"The dates have not been fixed yet. It could be anytime towards the first half of 2013. Both at Istres and Bangalore, there will also be a simultaneous transfer of technology, so that the remaining upgrades can be done by the Indian side," he said.

India had announced a contract in end-July with two French defence firms -- Thales and Dassault -- for upgrading its fleet of 51 Mirage 2000 combat jets, which were acquired between 1982 and 1986. The details regarding the size of the deal were not spelt out.

But ministry officials had said it would work out to around $4 billion, if one were also to consider other investments, like $500 million towards a new facility at Bangalore for Hindustan Aeronautics and $1 billion for new weapons and related additions.

At Istres, the aircraft will see an upgrade of its avionics, combat systems, electronics for military capability, night vision cockpit, advanced navigational systems, friend-or-foe identification system, radars and the warfare suites.

According to Lenseigne, Thales is also working on the projects it will undertake as part of the offsets for Mirage 2000 upgrade. India, like many countries, asks defence vendors to spend some the project money locally to source components or as investment.

"We have in mind some 15 major proposals covering army, navy and air force. These are in broad areas like air defence, new generation equipment for combat aircraft like sensors, and maritime radars. Our partners are under selection," he added.

A $16.5 billion giant in the defence, security, aerospace and transport markets, Thales has 68,000 employees in 50 countries. In India, it started operations over five decades ago and also has joint ventures with Rolta and Samtel, and a global software arm in Chennai.

New Delhi, Dec 5 (IANS): The Indian Navy will acquire 12 more Boeing P-8I long-range maritime reconnaissance (LRMR) aircraft to boost its eye in the sky over India's territorial waters and exclusive economic zone. This is in addition to the 12 already ordered, a top commander said.

Indian Navy Chief Admiral Nirmal Verma told India Strategic defence magazine (www.indiastrategic.in) in an interview that the force was satisfied with the progress of the first eight P-8Is being built by Boeing under a 2009 order and that the second order for four more aircraft was being processed. It would be placed within the current fiscal ending March 2012.

At a later date, it was planned to acquire 12 more P-8Is for offshore surveillance and protection of the Indian waters and interests, bringing the total to 24, Verma added.

India's coastline exceeds 7,500 km, besides which there are several island territories and economic interests off the east and west coasts.

Hitherto, the Indian Navy has been using old, Soviet-vintage maritime reconnaissance aircraft. But, after the 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai, the government cleared the first eight P-8Is within three months of the horror. Four more were cleared earlier this year.

In fact, it was Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself who had asked the defence ministry to ensure the navy's modernisation after the 26/11 attack, in which 10 Pakistani terrorists easily managed to infiltrate into Mumbai and killed 166 people and injured more than 300.

It may be noted that there had been a virtual paralysis in the government on defence modernisation after the V.P. Singh government instituted an inquiry in 1989 over the controversial Bofors gun deal with Sweden. The Kargil War over Pakistani occupation of strategic Himalayan heights inside India triggered the first round of modernisation and 26/11 the second.

Verma said that the P-8I is the most advanced LRMR platform with a capability to observe even small boats and destroy hostile submarines. India is the first export customer for this aircraft, and the advantage is that India will benefit from the hi-tech systems being developed for the US Navy, which has ordered 117 aircraft.

Most of the specifications of the US and Indian navies are reportedly common but details are understandably being kept secret.

There would be some Indian components though, thanks to the offsets and transfer of technology requirements. India's Bharat Electronics Ltd has already started supplying its Data Link II system to facilitate the P-8I's communications with Indian space, naval, and land based-assets.

The US aircraft, designated the P8-A poseidon multimission maritime aircraft (MMA), has the capability of broad-area surveillance and launching Harpoon anti-ship and land attack missiles, depth charges and torpedoes against submarines and underwater unmanned assets. The aircraft can also perform electronic intelligence (ELINT) missions with its highly sophisticated Raytheon APY-10 radar and Northrop Grumman electronic warfare (EW) systems.

The first Indian P-8I, which first flew on Sep 28 in the presence of Indian Navy officers, is due to be delivered in January 2013. The first US Navy P8-A flew in April 2009 and is due to be delivered mid-2012. Indian Navy officers periodically visit the Boeing factory at Renton in Washington state to monitor the progress of the project and installation of specified systems.

India Strategic quoted Verma as saying that he expected all the P-8Is to be delivered in about six to seven years but did not give the planned schedule.

The P8 aircraft is a next-generation military version of the Boeing 737-800 fuselage with wingtips from the 737-900. The engines are also from the same CFM family used on commercial 737s but more powerful, permitting the aircraft low level cruise over the waters and launch sonobuoys to detect submarines.

There are five stations for systems and weapons operators, and the aircraft can remain in the air for several hours.

According to a Boeing statement, "All sensors contribute to a single fused tactical situation display, which is then shared over both military standard and internet protocol data links, allowing for seamless delivery of information while simultaneously providing data to everyone on the network."

Maiden flight of first indigenous Indian Airborne Warning and Control System (AEW&C) The first fully modified Aircraft for indigenously developed Indian Airborne Warning and Control System(AEW&C) took to skies on 06th December 2011, as part of its first maiden flight in Embraer facilities at Sao Jose dos Campos in Brazil with about 1000 Mission System Components provided by CABS, DRDO. These include the critical item – AESA (Active Electronic Scanning Antenna) Radar Antenna developed by DRDO and certified from ANAC, International FAR Certification Agency.

"The flight is a major milestone towards realizing the dream of Indigenous Airborne Early Warning and Control System, which will put India into a Select Club of Countries" said SA to RM congratulating DRDO Scientists and M/s Embraer Engineers on this achievement.

While this Aircraft will now undergo full certification process over next two year period, India will receive two aircrafts by middle of next year. Here, the Mission Systems developed by Various DRDO Labs will be integrated with these aircrafts. Currently , these systems are undergoing ground integration and evaluation at CABS (Centre for Airbourne Systems), Bangalore.

Two of these systems will be delivered to IAF after detailed Test & Evaluation by end 2013.

With the advent of this, India is looking forward to join the league of Countries capable of developing and delivering such complex Airborne System of Systems to its user.